Yee-owch. The Guitar Hero family wasn’t the only group hit with fallout resulting from quarterly earnings reports. GameSpot reports that Harmonix owner Viacom is looking for a refund of “a substantial portion” of a $150 million bonus to former Harmonix shareholders.

From the article:

“In 2008, we paid $150 million, subject to adjustment, under this earn-out agreement related to 2007 performance,” the media conglomerate said as part of its full-year financial earnings report today. “At December 31, 2009, we believe that we are entitled to a refund of a substantial portion of amounts previously paid, but the final amount of the earn-out has not yet been determined.”

Note: Some sources are reporting that Viacom is trying to retrieve this money from Harmonix founders Eran Egozy and Alex Rigopulos, but that’s a bit misleading. Egozy and Rigopulos were shareholders in Harmonix, so it’s technically true, but as far as I can tell they’re not remotely the only ones who were. It’s likely that money was split up into very small increments. But please correct me if I’m wrong, anyone.

Here’s hoping Harmonix isn’t forced into another round of staff cuts.

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